Applesauce Sauce

We try to eat our fruit in its original form (grinding, drying, etc tends to trick you into eating way too much), but we just can't resist a batch or two of homemade applesauce a year. This batch was a mix of heirloom apples from a stand at the Farmers' Market. I wish I had taken note of exactly what they were, but really every batch we've ever made has been good so duplication is really not that important. Applesauce is so easy:


We don't peel or core or anything, just cut in quarters. I'll claim it's so that we get the nutrients from the skin during cooking, but it's not bad that it cuts down on the work too. I just toss the quarters in a pot with a few cups of water and simmer, stirring occasionally, until totally squishy (adding more water if necessary). When it's all soft we put it through the food mill. I found this at Goodwill for $5, which was quite a steal, but I sure wish it was one of the big ones. Pre had a great time trying, but it was tricky for her to know when to reverse for a while to pull up the peel and such.


We ate a pint immediately, and canned the rest. This stuff is sooooo good. I can't believe people add sugar (or Heaven forbid high fructose corn syrup) to applesauce!

I Guess She's Ready for The Cards

Pre has been working on the geometric cabinet a lot lately. The first time I gave her a lesson on how to use a drawer as a puzzle she proceeded to do every drawer in one sitting. She's not great at tracing around yet, and I need to represent that though her motor skills may not yet be quite there. With the cabinet, to help move to abstraction, the shapes are first matched to their wood frames, then placed on cards with solid shapes, thick outlined shapes, and finally thin outlined shapes. Kinde was beyond the cards that go with it when she came back home, so I haven't had practice figuring out when to present them and haven't brought them out yet. Then today at the zoo Pre was playing with a shape sorter with little difficulty when she noticed the sunspots below the holes. She started skipping the holes and did this





Unfortunately I didn't get a picture until it had been bumped, but they were all perfectly matched and lined up. I guess at least the filled in cards are no trouble! I'm debating which to bring out; should I still start with the solid shapes, or skip right to the thick line? She seems happy enough to do the solid work, so I may still start there. It may also be trickier if the shapes are more similar, as they are in the cabinet.

They really do this stuff

We had an amazing afternoon playing under a glorious autumnal tree in front of the Bellevue Library today. The girls frolicked (well, one girl, one owl), we chased each other, leaves were tossed, there was dancing, actual Spanish spoken, and both girls spontaneously started sorting their leaf collections by color. It's nice to see that small children really do choose activities like sorting of their own volition, even in a completely unprepared environment. I guess Maria Montessori really did make accurate observations :)

Happy Halloween!

Woodland Park Zoo Pumpkin Bash - amazing views of the animals playing with their "gift" jack-o-lanterns (filled with meat if needed to interest said animal)


I am so pleased with how my owl costumes turned out against all odds. Both my and a back-up sewing machine broke, requiring me to sew two inches at a time and then deal with a massive thread jam. Slooow going. The girls loved them just as much as I hoped, though!








Cut-out crackers to have Halloween fun without even more sugar.